TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
Just a few hours after competing in UIL state cross country championships on Saturday, La Joya Palmview’s Brianna Robles was scarfing down some In & Out Burger.
Robles was celebrating her surprise seventh-place finish in the girls Class 6A division at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. The junior, ranked in the top 50 before the race, has been among the best runners in the Rio Grande Valley for two years. But Saturday, she ran an inspired 5K clocked at personal-best 17:58 and beat some of state’s higher ranked girls.
“This race was a redemption from the last time I ran this course. I wanted to run hard and leave it all out there,” Robles said of the 18:38 she recorded on Oct. 1 at the McNeil Invitational at Old Settlers Park. “In the second half of the race, I looked up at the clock and I saw it was at 17:40, and I just told myself I needed to take off now or I wasn’t going to break 18.”
Robles, who said she very nervous before the race, did indeed break 18 minutes for the first time ever and finished in seventh place, the highest individual finish among all runners from Hidalgo County. But she wasn’t the only one with success from the Valley; the Donna North boys claimed second place as a team in Class 5A with 103 points.
Also, teams and individual runners from Donna, Mercedes, Progreso and Hidalgo all placed in the higher echelons at the state meet.
The Donna North boys, with an average time of 16:15, were led by senior and 14th-place finisher Daniel De La Cruz’s 15:41 and freshman and 19th-place finisher Jorge Ponce’s 15:59 clocking. Rounding out the team were senior Fernando Teran (46th place), Leonel Vazquez (55) and Mauricio Peña (67).
Also turning in strong performances in Class 5A were Mercedes’ Jonathan Reyes and Dominic Cavazos. Reyes, a senior, placed ninth overall with a time of 15:43. Cavazos, a junior, took 10th place by notching a 15:46 mark. The pair’s finishes were the best among Valley runners in the Class 5A boys division. Mercedes as a team placed ninth. Donna High runners did well enough to have the Redskins come in eighth place and was lead by senior Alejandro Castillo.
Hidalgo’s Jesus Guerrero marked a 16:13 and finished in eighth place overall in Class 4A boys. The senior led a team effort that had the Pirates wind up in 10th place. The Progreso boys also ran well and wound up in sixth place in Class 4A.
Progreso had three top 30 finishes from Everado Esparza (14th place), Omar Anguiano (23) and Anthony Vasquez (27).
There were many other Valley runners at the meet and many finished in the top 50. Each division of boys and girls races had about 150 runners.
In Class 6A girls, Edinburg North’s Beth Ramos, who had posted the Valley girls’ top times all season, finished a respectable 24th, crossing the finish line at 18:31. Her boys’ teammates, Tristan Pena and Josh Doria, also did well. Pena, a junior, recorded a 15:33 and finished in 16th place overall. Meanwhile, Doria claimed 30th place with a 15:46.
Robles, even while letting loose on hamburgers and donuts, was already looking ahead.
“I’ve already set my goal for next year,” she said. “I want to be top five and win it all.”